Tapir Facts: Ancient Mammals with Flexible Snouts

Tapirs are large herbivorous mammals found in Central and South America and Southeast Asia. Five species exist worldwide all featuring the distinctive flexible trunk like snout used for grasping vegetation.

Why Trunks Work as Snorkels

The tapir's most distinctive feature is its prehensile trunk formed by an elongated upper lip and nose. This flexible snout functions similarly to an elephant trunk though much shorter. Tapirs use it to grasp leaves, fruits, and branches pulling vegetation into their mouths with precision. The snout can extend several inches and curl around objects.

How Five Species Live on Two Continents

Five tapir species exist in two distinct geographic regions. The Brazilian tapir is the most common South American species found in forests, grasslands, and wetlands from Colombia to northern Argentina. The kabomani tapir was only scientifically described in twenty thirteen making it one of the most recently identified large mammals. The Malayan tapir is also the largest species reaching weights over seven hundred pounds.

Why They Consume Eighty Five Pounds Daily

Tapirs are herbivores that consume a wide variety of plant materials. Their diet includes leaves, fruits, berries, twigs, grasses, and aquatic vegetation. They are browsers that select tender young leaves and ripe fruits when available. Tapirs may consume up to eighty five pounds of vegetation daily depending on body size and food quality.

How Baby Stripes Fade at Eight Months

Tapirs are primarily solitary animals except during mating season and when mothers care for young. They are mostly nocturnal becoming active at dusk and remaining so through the night. Tapirs are excellent swimmers and spend considerable time in rivers, lakes, and swamps. Water provides relief from heat and protection from predators like jaguars and crocodiles.

Why Mothers Teach for Eighteen Months

Calves can stand and walk within hours of birth. They follow mothers closely and nurse for six to eight months. Sexual maturity arrives at three to five years of age. In the wild tapirs live twenty five to thirty years.

How All Five Species Face Extinction

Tapir populations face serious threats across their ranges. All five species are classified as vulnerable or endangered. Habitat destruction from logging, agriculture, and development eliminates suitable tapir territory. Hunting for meat and hides continues in many regions despite legal protections.